The plan will greatly reduce the likelihood that inmates will commit more crime once they're released from prison, according to Cuomo and idea backers. If it's is approved by the state Legislature, it would begin at 10 prisons in all parts of the state, with nearby colleges participating.

There is research to support the plan. The Bard College Prison Initiative reports that the recidivism rate for graduates of its own college program for inmates is a mere 4 percent. By contrast, overall, some 40 percent of inmates released from state prisons eventually return to a life of crime.

The governor argues that the college program in state prisons would cost just $5,000 a year, while it costs $60,000 annually just to keep a single inmate incarcerated.

Assembly members Joe Borelli and Nicole Malliotakis say Empire State students amass an average of $25,537 in student loans.

"The problem with the program is not the idea of rehabilitation for convicted felons," Borelli (R-South Shore) said. "The problem is the fundamental inequity of the proposal ... How can we provide a free education for people who have made the wrong choices in life while we let the people who made good choices struggle?"